NBA Rookie of the Year Odds: Cooper Flagg Set as Clear Favorite Over Kon Knueppel

Has No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg done enough to completely flip the Rookie of the Year race?

After a 33-point game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, Flagg is now a -175 favorite in the odds at DraftKings to win Rookie of the Year over his college teammate Kon Knueppel.

There has been a ton of movement in this market since early April, with the odds currently settling at these prices:

NBA Rookie of the Year Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Cooper Flagg: -175
Kon Knueppel: +135

Back on April 3, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps released a straw poll of potential awards voters to give an outlook on the Rookie of the Year race. Knueppel received 80 of the 100 first-place votes in that poll, moving his odds to -1800 to win this award.

The Charlotte Hornets guard had been favored for quite some time to win Rookie of the Year, but the movement after the poll came made him by far the biggest favorite he had been all season.

That was short-lived for Knueppel, as Flagg dropped 51 points that night against the Orlando Magic, moving the odds to this:

Kon Knueppel: -350
Cooper Flagg: +240

Then, Flagg dropped 45 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 5, moving him to the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. Knueppel fell to a +150 underdog while Flagg was -200 to win the award.

The odds are in a similar spot now, but Knueppel had made up some ground earlier in the week. Flagg was just a -150 favorite prior to dropping 33 points against the Spurs on Friday night.

There is a real case for both players to win this award. Flagg has been forced into a lead role for a struggling Dallas team, and he’s thrived in it, averaging 21.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from 3.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft has really come on since returning from a foot injury in early March, averaging 23.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game over his last 20 games.

However, is that enough to overtake Knueppel? The Hornets wing set the rookie record for 3-pointers made in the 2025-26 season, and he’s helped Charlotte into playoff contention. Still, back-to-back losses by the Hornets late in the season may force them into the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game, which would make it a tall task for them to make the postseason.

Knueppel is averaging 18.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 42.7 percent from 3. He’s only missed one game all season, and he’s been a much more efficient player than Flagg on a better team.

That being said, Knueppel isn’t asked to carry the nightly load that Flagg is on the offensive end. And, he’s struggled down the stretch of this season, which has allowed the Mavs star back into this race.

Knueppel is averaging 16.4 points per game since March 1, shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from 3. Over his last 11 games, he’s shooting 39.4 percent from the field and averaging 14.1 points per game.

Flagg’s late-season surge has clearly flipped things in the eyes of oddsmakers, and it’ll be interesting to see if voters that took Knueppel in ESPN’s poll have changed their mind during the final week of the regular season.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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